This is an e-mail reply to a query of mine regarding the
confusion some of you may have after discovering two
"Simtel" ftp sites. It is from Keith Petersen, the
original archive maintainer of Simtel20.

Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 00:58:47 EDT
From: Keith Petersen
To: Amer Neely
Subject: Re: Will the *real* Simtel please stand up
> I'm writing an article on FTP for a local Internet publication, and in
> trying to piece together a bit of history came across another "Simtel" site
> that now has me confused.
>
> First of course is yours here, and the other is The Coast to Coast
> Software Repository at http://www.coast.net/SimTel/
>
> The confusion of course is in the use of "SimTel" in this URL. Is it a
> mirror site of yours, or some other association?
Amer, here is a copy of the info I recently posted to the net on this
subject. It was a painful transition.
===
There is only one Simtel collection and it's on Simtel.Net. Simtel is
a registered trademark of Walnut Creek CDROM. Any other collection that
uses the Simtel name in its indexes, information files, host name, or
directory paths is misrepresenting itself.
Simtel.Net, which is located at Walnut Creek CDROM, is the origin point
of Keith Petersen's world-wide distribution network for Shareware,
Freeware, and Public Domain programs for MS-DOS, Windows 3.x, and
Windows 95. It has more mirror sites than any other archive of its
type on the Internet. Its web pages are also mirrored on many servers
around the world.
Coast to Coast Telecommunications has been advised to stop using the
Simtel name. They previously had a limited license to use the name
but that license expired and has not been renewed. There will be a
trademark infringement lawsuit if CCT does not cease using the name.
Please visit our web pages (see URL below) and compare them to CCT's
web pages. It will immediately become clear which is the real Simtel
because they have removed all references to "Simtel" from
their web pages.
I will explain why I am no longer with CCT and why *all* of the other
archivists who where there at the time I was have left CCT. We are the
same well-known Simtel team, now doing business at Walnut Creek CDROM.
In the third quarter of 1995 things were not going well with the Simtel
collections at CCT. They were not giving it the support it needed in
the way of equipment, personnel and system upgrades. I had reason to
believe that CCT might be interested in an offer to purchase the rights to the
collections, so I made an inquiry to Walnut Creek CDROM to see if they
would be interested in moving the Simtel collections to their site.
I told Walnut Creek CDROM that I had nothing to sell, other than my
expertise as an archive administrator, and that they would have to
negotiate with CCT for the rights to the collection. I said that if
they could do that then I would be interested in going to work for
them. I made no other commitment.
Walnut Creek CDROM telephoned CCT to discuss this proposal. Apparently
CCT decided that I had already gone to work for Walnut Creek CDROM,
which was not true. On December 4, 1995 CCT locked me out from my
account without notice, making it impossible for me to do the work I
had contracted to do for them. CCT made no attempt to contact me to
see if I had really left them to go to work for Walnut Creek CDROM.
I was left without employment and with no income for my family. I
waited one week to see if CCT would contact me and when they did not I
contacted Walnut Creek CDROM to ask if they would hire me even though they had
not been able to get CCT to negotiate. They said yes, and I then started
working for them.
Simtel.Net is not an exact replacement for the old collections because
CCT would not allow me to take the collections with me after they
locked me out. I had to load the CD-ROM made from SIMTEL20 just before it was
shut down by the Army on September 30, 1993. We have since added over
9,000 files, thanks to authors who have responded to my postings about
our move to Walnut Creek CD-ROM. Our collections are now larger than
CCT's and growing fast. We are now averaging 900 uploads per month.
Many authors are re-uploading their older programs to help make our
collection complete. I augmented this by obtaining over 10,000 files
from a trusted local BBS, which have been merged into our collections.
If you check CCT's list of mirror sites you will find that nearly all
of them have switched to mirroring Simtel.Net.
I will send our latest list of mirror sites to you in another message.
Keith
--
Keith Petersen, General Manager of Simtel(tm)
Internet: w8sdz@Simtel.Nethttp://www.simtel.net/simtel.net/
Uucp: uunet!simtel.net!w8sdz
ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet